During the recession of the early 1990's houses shrunk in size and amenities. After about mid-1995, with the recession being over, the housing market changed again, in that people wanted amenities, and builders wanted to satisfy this desire of the buying populous. The problems that existed then, and which, still are with us include the facts that while customers want amenities, such as wood balustrades, they often don't want to pay the extra cost associated with same. Due to the expense of an all wood balustrade they so oftentimes settle for a wrought iron one or a partial wall up the stairway with a handrail on the side of the wall. Another problem is that balustrade (handrail systems) installation has become a specialty trade and the tradesmen who install them make more money per hour than ordinary carpenters. Thus the labor rate in California for stair specialists is about $30 while carpenters make about $21 per hour. Since more than one man is usually involved in such installations, the extra cost to the builder can be quite sizeable.
It is an object therefore of this invention to provide a new low cost newel for both gallery and rake locations, that can be easily installed.
It is another object to provide a premanufactured balustrade that includes special newels as well as preferably premade rail systems.
It is a third object to provide a balustrade that can be priced to compete with wrought iron while providing the safety and good looks of a high end wood system.
It is a fourth object to provide a balustrade that can be installed after a bit of training by carpenters instead of requiring the use of specialists.
It is a fifth object to provide a premanufactured newel for installation at the gallery level, which is at the top of a flight of stairs and a rake newel which is mounted on the rake of the stair run, that is at an intermediate location.
It is a sixth object to provide a process for the installation of the pre-manufactured balustrade system.
Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.
The invention accordingly comprises the product possessing the features properties and the relation of its components as well as the series of steps recited that form the process disclosed herein, all of which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention reference should be made to the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.